Current Impacts
To see or report current drought impacts, please visit the Drought Impacts Toolkit, where you can find impacts from media in the Drought Impact Reporter and from citizen scientists and other volunteer observers under Condition Monitoring Observations.
Historic Impacts
No two states have the same experience during a drought. Below are examples of some of the impacts experienced in Mississippi in the past. The process for developing this example impact table is described in Noel, M., Bathke, D., Fuchs, B., Gutzmer, D., Haigh, T., Hayes, M., Poděbradská, M., Shield, C., Smith, K. and Svoboda, M., 2020. Linking drought impacts to drought severity at the state level. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(8), pp.E1312-E1321. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0067.1. To view a more complete record, and to filter impacts by drought severity, sector and season, check out the interactive State Impacts Tool.
Category | Examples of historically observed impacts |
---|
D0 | Creek flow is low |
D1 | More wildfires occur than normal |
Wildlife search for water |
D2 | Burn bans expand |
Cotton is stressed; supplemental hay for cattle begins |
Ground is cracking, causing road damage |
Hydroelectric power output decreases; energy cost is high |
D3 | Burn bans are implemented |
Home foundations and walls crack |
Soybean yields are low |
Surface water levels are low; boat ramps close |
D4 | Fire danger increases |